MAKUHARI, Japan (Reuters) - A grouping of the world's top
greenhouse gas emitters on Sunday backed U.N.-led efforts to
forge a global pact to fight climate change but disagreed on a
sectoral approach to curb emissions from industry.

G20 nations ranging from top carbon emitters the United
States and China to big developing economies Brazil, Indonesia
and South Africa held three days of talks near Tokyo to discuss
ways to tackle rapidly rising emissions.

"It's not so much these two groups are at loggerheads with
each other, they are also thinking of how they can cooperate
collectively," Halldor Thorgeirsson of the U.N. Climate Change
Secretariat told Reuters.

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The developing world is demanding rich states do more to
curb their own emissions and help poorer countries pay for
clean technology.

Both sides managed to bridge differences in Bali last
December to launch two years of talks on a pact that binds all
nations to emissions curbs to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

"The whole debate on climate change is moving away from
just being an issue of targets to being an issue of how to
reduce emissions," said Thorgeirsson, who was pleased with the
G20 talks that were billed as a dialogue, not a negotiation.

"This is a very good sign that the good spirit of Bali will
prevail in Bangkok as well," he said, referring to the March
31-April 4 meeting in the Thai capital, the first U.N.-led
climate meeting of nations that backed the "Bali roadmap."

But some G20 members and delegates voiced concern over
Japan's proposal for sectoral caps for polluting industries.

Japan wants top greenhouse gas emitting nations to assign
near-term emissions targets for each industrial sector which,
added up, would then form a national target.

But it was unclear if this target was mandatory or
voluntary and developing nations said the scheme needed to take
into account their individual circumstances.

"It is clear that developed and developing countries are
still far apart on sectoral approaches," South African
Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told Reuters.

DIFFERENCES

Ailun Yang of Greenpeace China said developing countries
objected to the Japanese idea of abandoning binding targets for
rich nations by just setting their own targets based on
sectors.

"There was very clear opposition to this. Not just China
and Brazil, but also South Africa, not just developing
countries, even countries like Germany, Spain and Korea."

Indonesia called for more funding and the transfer of clean
energy technology. Otherwise a sectoral approach would not
work.

"The goal is the same for developed and developing
countries, but there are big differences in thinking," said
Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari. "It was good that we had
frank discussions on what each wanted the other to do," he
added.

The talks in Chiba, near Tokyo, also sparked a row over big
developing nations being labeled "major emitters," a term U.S.
officials used at the gathering.

South Africa, Indonesia, India and Brazil told the meeting
they objected to the label since on a per-capita basis, their
carbon emissions were a fraction of the roughly 24 tonnes of
carbon dioxide equivalent produced by the average American.

Developing nations also called for more clarity on the
funding and management of schemes to pay for clean energy
technology projects in their countries.

Van Schalkwyk said on Saturday it was crucial developing
nations had greater involvement in the management of clean
technology funds, particularly recently announced funds to be
managed by the World Bank with money from Japan, the United
States and Britain.

About 190 nations agreed in Bali to try to find a
replacement for the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 2009. Under
the Bali roadmap, all nations would be obligated to curb carbon
emissions under Kyoto's successor from 2013.

Kyoto first phase ends in 2012 and binds only rich nations
to emissions curbs.

But rapidly rising emissions from developing nations means
the pact is no longer effective in trying to limit dangerous
climate change that scientists say will cause rising sea levels
and greater extremes of droughts and floods.